ICE July Brent crude futures breach $80/b on continued geopolitical risk and US stocks drawdown

ICE July Brent crude futures rose above $80/b at 0948 GMT, trading as high as $80.18/b, on continued geopolitical tensions compounded by an unexpected drawdown in US stocks. “The US stock drawdown, on top of the current geopolitical risk, is facilitating the bullish sentiment,” said Geordie Wilkes, analyst at Sucden Financial. Following the spike, crude fell backed off a little, trading at levels of $79.95/b at 1003 GMT. “It is still knocking on the door — it isn’t really pulling back,” Wilkes said. Looking forward though, Wilkes said he thought it would be tricky for crude to maintain this momentum and the market would be looking towards the OPEC meeting next month to see what sentiment emerged from it. –Emma Kettley, emma.kettley@spglobal.com –Edited by Jonathan Dart, jonathan.dart@spglobal.com